Florida attorney blogger Jeffrey Kuntz writes about a tax ruling recently handed down by the Utah Supreme Court:
[The Court] released an opinion last week upholding the constitutionality of a Utah statute that taxes businesses in which individuals perform services while nude or partially nude. However, the court struck a Utah statute that taxed escort services as unconstitutional.
Bushco, dba Babydolls Escorts, et al v. Utah State Tax Commission et al (No. 20070559).
Here the Court’s reasoning:
[T]he Tax was enacted, according to the record before us, with the predominant purpose of serving an important state interest unrelated to the substantive content of protected expression.
The Tax… places only de minimis burdens on erotic nude dancing, a type of expression lying “only within the outer ambit of the First Amendment’s protection” and “of a wholly different, and lesser, magnitude than the interest in untrammeled political debate.”
We begin our analysis by evaluating the Tax’s content neutrality and then assess whether it passes constitutional muster under the appropriate level of scrutiny. We determine that it does. We next turn to the question of whether the Tax is unconstitutionally overbroad and determine that it is not.
We finish by analyzing whether the statutory provisions applying the Tax to escort services are unconstitutionally vague and conclude that they are.
Those Mormons ruin everything.
By the way, if you are a Florida lawyer, Jeffrey’s blog, The Florida Legal Blog, is a must read. I am a subscriber and I read it every day.
Good work, Jeff.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Poor choice of words? // Nov 25, 2009 at 12:50 am
Not sure if you intended a joke with the “those Mormons” reference, but it could be seen as offensive to some readers — along the lines of “those Muslims” or “those Jews.” Perhaps the safest course is one that shows respect for all. However, your blog is generally enjoyable and informative.
2 Peter // Nov 25, 2009 at 1:45 am
Poor Choice,
It was either that or offend strippers.
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